Cake-former.



Patented Jan. 9. |960.

A. FREnmcKsoN.

C A K E F 0 R M E R.

(Application led Mail 1, 189 9.')

3 Sheets-Sheet l,

(No Model.)

INVENTOR WITNESSES w: Norms Urns cn. wcrmmm.. umsHmsTuN, u c,

No. 640,898. Patented 1an. 9, |900. A. FBEDRICKSON.

CAKE FORMER (Appiicatiou led May 1Y 1899.)

(No Model.)

3 Shedtvs-Sheet 2l WITNESSES Patented 1an. 9, i900. A. FREDRICKSQN.

CAKE FURMER (Aliplicacinn med May 1, 1899.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.)

INVENTOR WITNESSES f ilnrrnn ST1-urnsl PATENT OFFICE.

AUGUST FREDRICKSON, F MERIDIAN, MISSISSIPPI, ASSIGNOR TO THE MERIDIAN MACHINERY COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

cms-FORMER.

SPEGIFXCATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 640,898, dated January 9, 1900.

nppiicaaonieanay A1,1899. serai 110.7153256. cromati.) r

To all whom it may condena:

Be it known that I, AUGUST FREDRICKSON, a

citizen of the United States,residing at Meridian, in the county of Lauderdale and State of Mississippi, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cake-Formers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exa'ctidescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in cake-'formersfor oil-mills; and it consists in a former having a male and female die, a heater located near the same, a charging-box adapted to receive the materialdirectly from the heater anddeposit it between the dies, and means for operating the said chargingbox and the said dies to form a cake.

It also consists in a cake-former having male and female dies, a heater located in suitable proximity to the same and supported in the same frame, a charging-box for receiving the material to be compressed directly from the heater and carrying it to the dies, means for forcing the charging-box forward, and means for automatically returning the same.

It also consists in certain other novel constructions, combinations, and arrangements of parts, as will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanyingdrawings, forming a part of this specificaton, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a cake-former constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 represents a front end elevation of the same. Fig. 3 represents a horizontal central section through the cylinder and valve for operating the charging-box. Fig. 4lE represents an end elevation of the same. Fig. 5 represents an enlarged detail side elevation ofthe valvechest inclosing the Valve which .regulates the movement of the compressing-piston. Fig. 6 represents a central horizontal section through the same, and Fig. 7 represents an end elevation thereof.

1 in the drawings represents a cake-former,

, sacrifice the strength of the same. It is also desirable to construct the frame so that the heater for holding the material to be com pressed can be in close proximity to the dies'. Mounted upon a suitable base, as 5, are the side standards 6 ofthe press` These standards are securely held to said base by means of vertical bars or columns 7, which are preferably square in cross-section and form the guides for thefemale die in its reciprocating movement. The upper ends of the standards 6 extend forward andfover the female die and support between them the male die 2.v Mounted upon the base 5, between the standards 6, is a cylinder 8, in which moves a piston, as 9, the piston-rod 10 of which extends upwardly through a suitable packing-box and carries at its upper end a platen orhead, as 11. To the upper surface of the platen 11 is secured the female die 3, which is made of the proper shape and size to receive themale die 2. The side standards 6 are preferably braced in position by means of inclined brace-rods 12 12, secured attheirlower ends to the base 5 and at their upper ends to the said standards. Just to the rear of the standards 6 and so as to extend partially between the same is mounted a suitable heating tank or receptacle et, in the bottom of which,near its forward edge, is formed a discharge-opening 13. The heater is mounted upon the frame 1,being rigidly secured thereto by suitable lugs, as at 14, on the standards 6. A charging-box, as 14, is mounted between the heater 4 and the female die 3 for supplying the material to be compressed to the said die. This charging-boxis made the exact size and bottom and provided at its rear edge with a slide or extension, as 15, which is adapted to close the discharge-opening 13 of the heater when the charging-box is in its forward position. The charging-box slides upon a suitable supporting portion of the frame 1. In order to aotuate the said charging-box 14, it is secured to a piston-rod 16, which extends into a cylinder 17, arranged beneath the heater 4. The piston-rod 16 carries a suitable piston, as 18, which is adapted to be moved `backward and forward in the cylinder 17. I employ an improved valve for controlling the operation of this piston, so that steam or other `of the cake to be formed, being open at top e aliases pressure may be exerted to move the charging-box back and forth. The construction of the valve is also such that the chargingbox will always be automatically returned to its rearward position. The valve 19 is mount- .ed in a suitable valve-chest 20, formed at the rear end of the cylinder 17. An inlet-port, as 21, is formed in one side of the valve-chest, said inlet being connected with both ends of the valve-chamber. The valve 19 is provided lnear one end with an annular groove or cutaway portion, as 22,y which is adapted to control the exhaust from the forward end of the cylinder 17. Suitable passages, as 23, are also formed in the valve 19 to control the exhaust-port 24, connected with the rear end of the cylinder. Another port 25 connects the rear end of the cylinder with the rear end of the valve-chest, so as to deliver steam or other actuating agency into the rear end of the cylinder to force the piston forward. The port 26 also connects the forward end of the cylinder 17 with the forward end of the valvechest 20. The valve 19 is provided with a valve-stem 27, which passes out of one end of the valve-chamber through a suitable packing-gland 28 and is pivotally secured to a bracket 30, secured to the valve-chest 20. While the lever 29 may be a solid bar, I prefer to make it of two bars, as seen in Fig. 4, the bars being arranged on each side of the bracket 30. The movement of the lever 29 is limited by means of a pin 31, secured thereto and moving in a curved slot 32, formed in the bracket 30. The inner end of the lever 29 is provided with a head having beveled faces 33 33, said beveled faces being adapted to engage a friction-roller 34, pivoted to the end of a hollow rod or standard 35. This hollow rod 35 is adapted to move back and forth in suitable bearings secured to the rear end of the cylinder 17 and has a spring 36 internally arranged, whioh normally holds the rod against the end of the lever 29. By means of this device the lever 29 is securely held at the extremes of its movement. When the valve 29 is moved to its rearmost position, as illustrated in Fig. 3, the steam or other agency is allowed to pass into the port 26 and thence in to the forward end of the cylinder 17 to carry the piston 18 to the rear end of the cylinder. The valve 19 being in this position, the port 24 would register with the passages 23 in the `valve and permit the exhaust of the pressure behind the piston. It will be seen, however, that the port 24is not at the end of the cylinder 17, so that when the piston 18 almost reaches the rear end of its stroke it will cut off the exhaust, and the remaining steam in the end of the cylinder will act as a cushion to stop the said piston. When it is desired to move the charging-box forward, the valve 19 is moved to the other end of the valvechest, an annular passage 22 connecting the port 26' with the exhaust. The port 25 is at the same time opened to receive steam or other pressure from the valve-chest and con- Vey the same to the rear of the piston 18,

thereby forcing it forward. The lever 29 is connected to an operating-rod 37, which extends toward the front of the machine and is pivotally secured to a lever 38. Said lever 38 is pivoted near its central portion to one of the braces 12 and has pivotally secured to its upper end a hand-operating rod 39, which is held in place by a suitable guide 40 upon the frame of the press. By grasping the handle of theA rod 39 and pulling it forward the lever 29 is so actuated that steam will be admitted to the rear of the piston and drive the charging-box, with its contents, forward. In order to automatically return the said box, a rod, as 41, engages the apertured lug of the pin 31, said rod extending through the said aperture in the said lug and having at its end an adjustable nut, as 31a, between which and the said apertured lug is mounted` a spring 31h. The tension of this spring may be regulated by the nut 312. The other end of the rod 41 extends to the forward portion of the machine and passes through an apertur'ed lng 41, secured to the charging-box, the extreme end of the said rod 41 being provided with a head, as 41". When the lever 29 has been moved so as to admit pressure behind the charging-box piston to drive it forward, it will remain in that position until the charging-box almost reaches the forward end of its stroke, when the lug 41ll will engage the head 41b of the rod 41 and pull it forward, thereby returning the lever 29 through the agency of the spring 31h, acting against the lug of the pin 3l, to its normal position. This changes the valve 19 and admits pressure to the forward end of the piston 18, so as to return it to its original position. It will be noted that when the charging-box is in its rearward position itwill receive its charge of cotton-seed meal or other material to be compressed directly from the discharge-opening 13 in the bottom of the heater 4, and when the charging-box is moved forward it will carry the charge forward and deposit it in the female die 3, the slide or rear extension 15 at the same time covering and closing the discharge-opening.

I also employ an im proved valve for controlling the admission of power to the cylinder 8 for operating the press. The said valve 43 is mounted in a Valve-chest 44, secured to the lower end of the cylinder 8. The valve 43 is provided with a valve-stem 45, extending through a suitable packing-gland 46 in the end of the chest. The outer end of the piston-rod 45 is connected, by means of a link 47, with an operating-lever 48. The lever 48 is pivoted to the base 5, its upper end extending to a point in close proximity to the female die 3.

let-passage 49 for steam or other agency and, with an exhaust-passage 50. The valve 43 is formed with a passage 51, leading from one end thereof to the other, so that the steampressure may be equal upon each end of the IOO TIO

said valve, and thus not hamper the movement of thesaid valve. The valve 43 is also provided with a centrally-arranged annular peripheral groove 52, which controls the eX- haust of the pressure used in the cylinder. The valve-chest 44 is provided with av port 53, leading into the bottom of the cylinder 8. The forward end of the valve 43 is slightly cut away, as at 54, to form a small passage-Way for the steam or other agency when the valve is moved partially to' the rear, thus permitting only a small portion of the steam to enter the port 53 and actuate the piston 9. This small pressure is used until the piston has almost reached the upper end of its stroke, when the valve 43 may be moved still farther and the full desired pressure for compressing the cake can be applied. It is necessary to provide a means for regulating the movement of the piston 43, so no mistake can be made in applying the full pressure of steam too soon and raising the female die so quickly as to dislocate or disarrange the material carried thereby. In order that this contingency may be prevented, the upper end of the lever 48 is bent inwardly at 55, so that when the said lever is forced inwardly it canv not move any farther' than the female die 3,

against which the end 55 impinges. When, however, the female4 die has almost reached its upper position, it will have passed the end of the lever 48, and the said lever may then be forced still farther inwardly and the full pressure of the steam or other agency be brought into action for completely compressi-ng the cake.

It is very desirable to arrange the'parts also so that the power for raising the piston 9 cannot be applied until after the charging-box has been returned to its position beneath the heater 4. For this purpose l mount a triplever, as 56, to the frame of the press at a point near the end of the cylinder 17. The forward end of this trip-lever 56 normally lies at a point opposite the end of a link or safetyrod 57, which is secured to the lever 4S. When the trip-lever56 is in this position, the lever 48 cannot be moved at all. The upper end of the trip-lever56, however, is arranged so as to extend into the path of the chargingboX 14, and when said charging-box travels to the rear end of its stroke it will engage the trip-lever 56 and raise its forward end, so that the lever 48 is free to be operated. 4 It will beapparent from the above description that the cotton-seed or other material to be compressed can be fed directly from the heater to the dies and that the charging-box may be operated by power and returned automatically; also, that the movement of the piston carrying the female die is so arranged as to prevent the power being applied too quickly. It will be seen that the parts are very simple in construction and yet are fully capable of performing the desired functions and that the whole mechanism is in complete control of the operators.

The construction of the frame supporting the press in this device is such that important advantages are gained over other devices of a similar character. It will be seen that the standards composing said framing arevery simple and comparatively light in construction and that they'are so open at the back and top that they can be adapted to cotton-seed-meal heaters in common use and which are already in place. It will be observed that l employ no heavy head-block, which makes the mechanism too high and cumbersome and which fills up space to the rear of the dies. Not only does this construction of frame enable me to adapt it to any of the ordinary heaters in use, but it enables me to arrange the dies so close to the heaters that the meal can be taken from an opening formed in the bottom of the heater at a point so close to the dies that the charges of meal for forming the cakes have to be moved Vonly about one-half the distance usually required in the general run of cake-formers in use. Also by taking the meal directly from the heater the stirrers which are usually employed in the heaters operate to deposit the meal into the charging-box. The structure is also comparatively light and is very much less in the Way of those operating the cake-former than other devices on the market.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A cake-former adapted to be applied to ordinary receiving meal-heaters, comprising a base, standards on said base, having forwardly-extending head portions, vertical columns or bolts, for binding the said standards to the said base, a stationary male die secured to and held in place by the forwardlyextending head portions, a female die operating in conjunction with the said male die and having a vertical movement on the .said columns, the structure being such that ample space is lett between the standards and above the male die to permit the said cakeformer to be adapted to anbrdinary mealheater, substantially as described.

2. Acake-former, comprisinga base, stand- IOO IIO

ards on said base made up of vertical webstrengthened portions at the rear having forvertical columns or bolts at the front, passing through the forwardly-extending head portions, inclined bars secured to the base at the bottom and to the standardsat the top to strengthen the structure, a male die supported between the forwardly-extending projections, a female die adapted to move up and down beneath the male die and guided in said movement by the column-s or bolts, projections on said standards forsupporting a mealreceiving heater, a heater supported on said projections and extending between the standards in close proximity to the dies, the open construction of the frame at the back and top permitting of this arrangement, the .said

heater having a discharge-opening at its bottom, the exact size of the cake to be formed, a charging-box of the same size as said opening operating beneath the discharge-opening of the heater for receiving the proper-amount of material and carrying it between the dies, and means for operating the charging-box, substantially as described.

3. A cake-form er, comprising an upper and lower die, a charging-box for supplying material to the same, a piston for operating the lower die, a valve controlling the admission of pressure to the said piston, ahand-operatingflever connected'to said valve, a rod connected to said lever, a trip-lever adapted to engage the said rod, the construction being such that when the charging-box is in its forward position, the trip-lever will prevent the admission of pressure to operate the piston carrying the die, and when the charging-box is in its rearmost position, the trip-lever will be moved so as to permit the operation of said valve, substantially as described.

4. In a cake-former, the combination with a suitable press, of a charging-box for supplying material thereto, a cylinder for operating the said charging-box, a valve for controlling the admission ot' pressure to said cylinder, a lever connected with the said valve for reciprocating it, a bracket upon the framing ot' the former for pivotally supporting the said lever, said bracket being provided with a slot, a pin secured to said lever and adapted to engage and move in the said slot, whereby the movement of the lever is limited, a rod connected with the said lever and adapted to be engaged at one end by the charging-box, a nut at the other end of the said rod, a spring interposed between the said nut and the said lever so as to take up the jar produced by the charging-box coming in contact with the said rod, and means for holding the said lever under pressure at either extreme of its movement, substantially as described.

5. A cake-former having suitable dies, a charging-box for su pplying material thereto, a piston for moving the charging-box, a cylinder carrying the said piston, a valve for controllin g the ports leading into the said cylinder, said valve being mounted in a suitable Valve-chest and being adapted to reciprocate therein, a passage leading to each end of the valve-chest, said passage being connected with the pressure-inlet so that steam or other pressure may be admitted at either end of the said valve-chest, means for reciprocating the valve, the structure being such that the valve need only move a short distance to open the inlet-ports at either end of the said valvechest, substantially as described.

6. In a cake-former, the combination with upper and lower dies and a charging-box for supplying material thereto, of a piston forG moving the lower die, a valve for admitting pressure to the said piston, said valve being mountedin a valve-chest, a port for admitting pressure to the said valve-chest, an exhaust-port formed in the said chest, the valve in the said chest being formed with `a passage extending from one end to the other, whereby an equal pressure will be secured at each end of the valve so thatit may be readily moved and means for moving the said valve,r substantially as described.

7. In a cake-former, the combination with upper and lower dies, of a piston-rod for moving the lower die, said piston being mounted in a suitable cylinder, a valve-chest secured to the base of the said cylinder and connected therewith by a suitable port, a valve in the said valve-chest having an annular peripheral passage for controlling the exhaust from the cylinder, one end of the said valve being partially cut away so that when the valve is moved a part of its stroke, a small degree of pressure will be admitted to the cylinder, and means for moving the said valve, substantially as described.

8. In a cake-former, the combination with upper and lower dies, of a piston for moving the lower die mounted in a suitable cylinder, a valve for controlling the admission of power to the said cylinder, a valve-chest secured to the lower end of the cylinder and inclosing the said valve, the said valve being provided with a passage from one end to the other whereby the pressure may be made at each end of the valve, said valve being also provided with a partially-cut-away portion at one end and a hand-lever connected with said valve and extending in close proximity with the lower die, the construction being such that when pressure is to be applied to the piston, the hand-lever can only be moved far enough to bring the cut-away portion of the valve outside the port leading into the cylinder and thereby introduce only a small pressure and when the said lower die has almost reached its upper posit-ion, the lever may be moved so as to admit the full pressure beneath the said piston, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aftix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

AUGUST FREDRicKsoN.

Witnesses:

B. J. CARTER, FRANK C. MGGHEE.-

IIO 

